Even with the Philippe Coutinho money bloating Liverpool’s wallet, it’s not within their current wage structure or transfer strategy to sign a 29-year-old who has reportedly been offered £285,000 per week by City and £300,000 a week by United.

Sanchez is thought to prefer a move to the Etihad Stadium to reunite with Pep Guardiola but the Premier League leaders are said to be put off by the mounting fees involved to sign the Chilean and United have no jumped the queue.

Throwing Liverpool into the mix seems like nothing but agent talk in an attempt to get the best deal for Sanchez who looks almost certain to leave this month.

HAMMERS WANT FELLAINI

West Ham are weighing up a move for Manchester United midfielder Marouane Fellaini, reports theStar.

The Belgium international is out of contract at the conclusion of this season and has reportedly turned down £170,000 per week extension as he searches for more first-team opportunities.

RATING: 8/10

VERDICT

David Moyes and Fellaini is just a match made in heaven. Moyes of course brought him to England when he signed for Everton a decade ago and he was also his first capture as United boss.

The 30-year-old has offers from Besiktas, Galatasaray and Chinese Super League clubs but a route to remain in the Premier League could be the most tempting.

Clubs

Liverpool-bound Naby Keita shows the good and bad as he scores in Leipzig win

Naby Keita was among the scorers as RB Leipzig moved above Schalke and into second place in the Bundesliga with a 3-1 home victory over the Gelsenkirchen outfit.

Amid continued talk about the possibility of his move to Liverpool being brought forward from the summer to this month, Keita gave the hosts the lead in the 41st minute with a strike from outside the box that took a considerable deflection off Naldo.

Here, we analyse the performance of Keita before he was substituted in the 68th minute.

With Keita in the starting XI, speculation an early move to Anfield is imminent would appear premature. Neither the player, Liverpool or RB Leipzig would want to risk injury so close to a switch but regardless there are plenty of takeaways from his peformance.

Deployed in a midfield trio with boss Ralph Hasenhuttl opting for a 4-3-3, Keita operated on the left in a role similar to that of Philippe Coutinho when he was tasked in an attacking midfield spot. Keita, though, showed why he’s a different animal entirely to the Brazilian.

Coutinho is full of flare and jinks his way past defenders with acute skill and while the Guinea international displayed his dribbling ability, it’s born out of his powerful running.

Time and time again he drove the Schalke backline into retreat and his positional sense to take up dangerous spots in behind the defence had their holding midfield Max Meyer struggling to hold him down.

He was Leipzig’s attacking thrust as he slalomed into the box, with or without the ball, and it was like watching a Ferrari navigate the turns of the Nurburgring.

On two occasions in the first 45 he powered past defenders into dangerous positions and a penalty shout in particular showed his class after a quick one-two following neat work out wide put him in threatening territory.

Granted, his goal arrived with a slice of fortune from a deflection off Naldo but the fact is he deserved that luck for constantly demanding the ball.

He was efficient and effective but the second 45 brought the obvious sign of improvement required.

Keita wants the ball all the time, whether from his teammates or from the opponent but that eagerness can cloud his judgement and he frequently committed fouls. They were reckless and mistimed and he was often miles away from the ball.

It’s why after a yellow he was shortly brought off because the 22-year-old was heading for the tunnel if it wasn’t the bench.

12th min PENALTY SHOUT: A real indication of Keita’s attacking thrust as he gathers the ball wide left, shows neat footwork to sprint past his man and a quick one-two releases the midfielder into the box before Benjamin Stambouli dives in to ricochet the ball out. Keita wants a penalty but the official waves for a goalkick.

27th min FOUL: The foul count is totting up already as just inside the Schalke half, Keita needlessly chops Alessandro Schopf’s standing leg before an aerial ball even drops near the pair.

33rd min CHANCE: Formidable acceleration from the Guinea international as again Keita drives into the area only for Naldo to slide across to divert his threatening pass out for a corner.

41st min GOAL: Kevin Kampl slaloms his way down the left and he cuts the ball inside to Keita who in a central position has time to smash a thunderous strike which looks destined for the bottom corner only for a slight deflection to take it down the middle. No celebration from the 22-year-old – a sign he’s off?

53rd min YELLOW CARD: And that’s his fifth booking of the season which means he’ll be suspended for next Saturday’s clash with Freiburg. Good tracking back from Keita but he overstretches trying to dispossess Schopf and concedes a freekick. A cumulative yellow rather than for the individual challenge.

68th min SUBSTITUTED: On that yellow card, Keita is brought off for Yussuf Poulsen.

Real Madrid risk falling further behind in La Liga after a cheeky late chip from Pablo Fornals saw Villarreal escape the Santiago Bernabeu with a shock 1-0 win on Saturday.

Fornals struck with three minutes left to leave Zinedine Zidane’s side fourth and a whopping 16 points behind runaway league leaders Barcelona, a deficit which will turn into 19 should Barca win at Real Sociedad on Sunday.

Here, we analyse the performance of one bright spark for the home side – Gareth Bale.

The last time Gareth Bale and Cristiano Ronaldo played in a two up front, they tortured Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League.

Indeed, the Wales star produced one of the finishes of this season and laid on an assist for Ronaldo while overall the performance in Dortmund was Madrid’s best this term.

Zinedine Zidane pinned his hopes on that dynamic combination baring fruit against another team in yellow as he deployed a 4-3-1-2 with Isco in behind – this time, only Bale turned up.

That his substitution in the 70th minute was met by collective jeers from the Bernabeu crowd is justification for the forward’s impact.

He dropped deep to contribute in the early attacking phases with Isco, peeled off his marker to provide an aerial threat in the box and leaned on his incisive passing ability to thread threatening balls into Ronaldo.

Bale was the fulcrum of their forward play and his somewhat surprising chemistry with Isco routinely had Villarreal’s backline in retreat.

Truthfully, the 28-year-old was the sharpest of any Madrid attacker and he didn’t appear tired when brought off in a double sub as Isco also exited.

The reality is that a wasteful Ronaldo should have been the man swapped out and ultimately Zidane paid the price for a strange switch which sucked the tempo out of Real.

Yes, there is an argument Bale’s injury record requires a degree of protection but a player of his quality shouldn’t be substituted.

Brought off: Gareth Bale

KEY MOMENTS

14th min DISALLOWED GOAL: A Toni Kroos corner from the right drops onto the head of a crowded Ronaldo but the ball pops to Bale at the backpost. However, his close-range header is flagged offside to deny Real an opener. Marginal decision.

28th min LINK-UP PLAY: Breathtaking from Bale on the counter. The Welshman is the outball on the right as Dani Carvajal clears a corner and his first touch is to cut inside his man before spreading the ball to Luka Modric with the outside of his foot. The Croatian releases Ronaldo who just has Sergio Asenjo to beat but his delicately lifted effort drifts wide.

30th min PASS TO RONALDO: Superbly weighted ball from Bale to Ronaldo and the Portuguese surges into the box but his thunderous strike from the right is narrowly wide of the post and slams into the side-netting.

35th min PENALTY SHOUT: Nice interplay between Marcelo and Kroos allows the former space to whip in a cross to the near post from the left. Bale gets in front of his man to glance a header across goal and although the connection is far from clean, the ball strikes Alvaro Gonzalez on the arm. The official waves away the appeals for a penalty, though.

43rd min SHOT: Isco glides through the middle and feeds Bale who just creeps onside outside the box. The forward turns back onto his weaker right foot but his curled effort sails wide. On his left, that likely flies in.

70th min SUBSTITUTION: Bale and Isco are brought off in a double substitution as Lucas Vazquez and Marco Asensio are brought on.

On the move: Gareth Bale jinks his way past Jaume Costa (L)

OUR VERDICT

Madrid’s only genuine source of threat in attack and his link-up play with Isco impressed. Ultimately, the substitutions were bizarre from Zidane and they sucked the life out of the hosts.

Perhaps if Bale had remained on the pitch the winner would have been Madrid’s rather than Villarreal’s.